Man, I love an anime that doesn’t screw around. No fluff beforehand, just straight-up action (or horrific murders, whichever). This is why I adore Higurashi. It starts right up with the intense crunches and smashes of someone being brutally beaten to death! First impressions for the creepiest anime of the season (if not this whole year) are right after the cut.

When I found out Mirai Nikki was getting an anime, I was incredibly happy. I originally discovered the manga online somewhere and read all I could until it was finally licensed for U.S. release. I could best describe it as if Sherlock Holmes and Battle Royale had a child, and that child watched a lot of Evangelion. The tension starts from the very beginning and never stops. This is how you do a creepy anime.

And this is how you do creepy as hell eyes!

The art is, once again, nothing spectacular. Pretty much run of the mill quality. What really makes the animation shine is a lot of the style and ‘tricks’ they’ve used. Interesting shot angles, a very real sense of fear in the eyes, all that good stuff. Also, Deus and – if I’m not mistaken – the good majority of objects that he interacts with are CG. And it’s the kind of CG you notice. He’s supposed to look otherworldly, and the animation team pulled it off without a hitch.

Deus is one of the few things more unnerving than Yuno's yandere-face.

The music is easily my favorite part of the adaptation. I can’t put my finger on it, but a lot of the stuff seems quite chaotic and off-beat. You know something’s coming, but you don’t know when or how. It really adds to the mood. Voices and sound effects are particularly good as well. I absolutely love what Yuno’s voice actor has done with the part.

Anyway, I will definitely recommend this to you folks. If you liked the manga or just have a thing for mindscrew horror anime, you need to see this. This is one of those shows that I just can’t wait to see the next episode of.

5 Responses to First Impressions – Mirai Nikki

I read the manga for this nearly a year ago and I was enjoying it a lot up until Vol 5 when they started revealing all the secrets and true intentions of the characters and that’s when I dropped it. Something about it just feels dumb. Once you finish the anime you’ll have to tell me who wins because I still kind of want to know. It does feel like Higarashi but its just not as good.

Will do! And I only dropped it because manga is expensive as sin and I couldn’t find any… ah… other alternative ways to find it. From my understanding, the survival game dies out in the second half and it becomes all about the winner of that replacing Deus and having to deal with the ‘holy shit, now I’m essentially God’ factor.

Even I haven’t finished Higurashi yet but i am up to date with the English manga publications. I finished the Eye Opening Arc a few days ago and that was great. Also the OVA’s are rubbish so never bother with them.